The US will review financial market rules to ensure the nation can still compete globally, US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has said. Speaking to New York's Economic Club, Mr Paulson said the 2002 Sarbanes Oxley Act, passed after a wave of corporate scandals, did not need changes. But he added that the way the law was enforced needed to be changed. Some analysts fear that the rules have become burdensome, making it harder for the US to compete internationally. 'Balance' In his first major speech since he left his job as head of investment bank Goldman Sachs to join the US Treasury, Mr Paulson said changes were needed in the enforcement of the law. "The right regulatory balance should marry high standards of integrity and accountability with a strong foundation for innovation, growth and competitiveness," said Mr Paulson. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.One tip in the database in February 2005, for instance, noted that “a church service for peace” would be held in the New York City area the next month. Another entry noted that antiwar protesters would be holding “nonviolence training” sessions at unidentified churches in Brooklyn and Manhattan.The Defense Department tightened its procedures earlier this year to ensure that only material related to actual terrorist threats — and not peaceable First Amendment activity — was included in the database.The head of the office that runs the military database, which is known as Talon, said Monday that material on antiwar protests should not have been collected in the first place...http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt11_21_6_3.htm

In his first visit to the Afghan capital, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain warned Monday that the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda would be a generation-long one, and he said NATO had to refocus on its commitment in Afghanistan until the job was done.“Now is the right time, with the Riga summit coming up, for NATO to bring into sharp focus the need for us to stay with the Afghans in their journey of progress, and rediscover within ourselves the belief and the vision that took us here and should keep us here until the job is done,” he said, speaking at a news conference with President Hamid Karzai in the gardens of the presidential palace. (NATO leaders are to meet in Latvia on Nov. 28-29.)Mr. Blair visited British troops based in Helmand Province, in the south, where they have fought intense battles with resurgent Taliban forces this summer, and then held talks with Mr. Karzai and cabinet officials in Kabul....http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt11_21_6_2.htm

In a March 2003 speech arguing for $1 billion in new spending on DNA-based crime fighting, then-attorney general John Ashcroft singled out the FBI's DNA database for its many successes. In Virginia, for example, he said authorities "have been able to solve 90 homicides and 196 non-homicide sexual assaults" by matching the DNA left at crime scenes to the DNA of prior offenders.What Ashcroft didn't explain was that a DNA match —a crime "solved" by the FBI's database — does not mean that an arrest was made, that a criminal was prosecuted or even that detectives considered a case closed. Just how many DNA matches lead to an arrest isn't known; no government agency keeps track. But a USA TODAY investigation found almost three dozen cases during the past five years — including a rape in Virginia — in which investigators failed to pursue potential suspects whose DNA matched evidence found at crime scenes....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-20-dna-matches_x.htm?csp=34

Although Congress is unlikely to follow calls from a top Democrat to bring back the military draft, the United States does have a plan, if necessary, aimed at inducting millions of young men for service.The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, says it's ready to respond quickly to any crisis that would threaten to overwhelm the current all-volunteer military."We're the fire department," said spokesman Pat Schuback at the service headquarters in Arlington, Virginia."We're prepared to do the mission with whatever time period we're asked to do it in. Our current plan is 193 days and that was based on manpower analysis."With an active list of more than 15 million names, Schuback said an estimated 93 percent of all men in the United States between 18 and 26 have registered for the Selective Service, as required by law. ...http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/20/selective.service/index.html?eref=rss_us

A computer glitch erroneously refunded dozens of Old Dominion University students thousands of dollars, and now the school is asking for the money back. School officials said 55 students are being told they must reimburse the school a total of about $323,000. ``Some of the students did not take this very well,'' President Roseann Runte said during a meeting of the executive committee of the Board of Visitors on Monday. Robert Fenning, vice president for administration and finance, said some students owe as little as $1,000, while some owe as much as $15,000. Some of the students had asked about the checks but were told they were legitimate, Fenning said. Officials said the affected students began as out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition than in-state students, and later switched their residences to Virginia. When the student records software was upgraded, it read the new addresses and applied them retroactively, issuing refund checks to those it perceived as having overpaid...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6229709,00.html